The Shrine

<div style='font: 10pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Thanks to non-invasive procedure technology, a doctor developed a way to correct pectus excavat (SP?) which is closely associated with Morphans Syndrom. This is where the sternum bone is curved in such a way to make a concave indentation in my chest visible (neat huh?). In my case, I don't have the syndrom associated with the deformaty, it's just causing a severe compression of my heart, which I guess is why I become so short of breath when doing sporting activities and such, no stamina. Anyway, they'll insert a metal bar in my chest underneath my rib cage after pumping it full of air, then take a pair of vice grips and flip the bar, popping my chest back into place. I'll have the bar for a year, then it'll be removed and I won't have the deformity anymore. Only restrictions, no sports (damn) for a year. I get to go to norfolk, va to have it done. It's a painful experience afterwards, so I'll be in the hospital for like 4 to 6 days after that.

SO yeah...</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Oww...</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Ew...doesn't sound fun. Good luck.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>You'll have fun going through airport security with that thing in your chest. J/K, best wishes to you when you go through that.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Where is the indentation? directly beneath the end of the sternum? I think I might have that too... no doctor has ever said anything about it though.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Arial; text-align: left; '>...where your index finger ends, that's where my indentation begins. If you take your middle finger, that's about how long it is, and if you take your pinky finger, at the second nuckle, that's how deep mine is.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>I too may possibly end up on a surgery table this summer but it won't be as bad as that-- good luck</div>

<div style='font: 12pt Arial; text-align: left; '>wow, well I guess I don't have much to be worried about then.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>Holy moly! My prayers are with ya...When exactly will you be leaving us for a while?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Possibly mid july or late june, not sure. The sooner the better in my opinion though, I want to get this over with and behind me as soon as possible.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Surgery sucks...hope everything goes ok. I had my gallbladder removed via laproscopy. Not as intrusive as what youll have but it still sucked bigtime.</div>

Hey Barret, we just found out Sebastian has this. Its barely noticeable right now, and the Dr doesn't think it will get severe enough to need surgery, but can you tell me when you first found out you had it, did they think from the beginning you'd need surgery?

Shellie,

Apparently I had had it since birth. No one really knew what it was at the time. I went through adolecences without any problems. It started to affect me when I reached high school. I couldn't run or do any physical activity for very long without becoming short of breath very quickly. Then came the many diagnosis of Asthma and other air way constriction problems. It wasn't until my sophmore year of college that my dad found the article in a magazine about the same thing. People had asked my parents about it when I used to play with other kids at the pools (by the time I hit my teen years I became self concious of it and stopped swimming). Insurance thought it was cosmetic due to the fact of lack of testing and they wouldn't pay for any of the tests because they thought it was a non issue. This is why I hate private insurance companies still today. After several tests they found that there was nothing wrong with my lungs but my chest wall being so impacted was affecting my heart. At age 20 I had the heart capacity of a 52 year old male and was suffering from an enlarged heart and had a slight heart murmer. After the surgery and follow ups I had no signs of the heart mumrer. I had to keep the bars in for about 2 years. If you decide he needs surgery do it while he's young and go to the hospital in Norfolk. I think it was called The Kings Daughter hospital for children. That is where the procedure was developed by Dr. Nuss. It is well worth it.

Well his Dr said he doesn't believe it will ever need surgery, but of course he's little now, and I know it will get more defined as he grows. So we're just going to wait and see what it does. If it ends up just being a cosmetic thing instead of impacting his heart and/or lungs, I'll wait till he can make that decision on his own to have it done. From what I've read more people don't need surgery than do need it, so I'm hoping it doesn't get severe.

We just found out yesterday, so I'm still obsessing over it.

Dear Lord, man. Take it easy. I hope all goes well for ya

Zeus wrote:Dear Lord, man. Take it easy. I hope all goes well for ya

Check the post time Zeus.

Sorry, I wanted to make sure it was Barret that had this.

I had a friend in high school with the same thing and I'm not sure if it ever started to affect him. His brother had a rough time with the same thing, though, so I hope everything works out.